CSI: The Experience Web Adventures - fun and educational

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures is a great web site that teaches students about forensics and then gives them virtual cases to work on and apply their knowledge. It is supported by the National Science Foundation and partners Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, American Federation of Forensic Sciences, CBS, and Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning. Some pretty big names!

There are three different cases for students to solve ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Each case has the student learning new topics and concepts in order to solve the case. The cases are very well written and designed and I had fun trying them out.

The site also has a reference section for help with the cases, topics and characters and the "fun stuff" section has an educators guide with lessons and activities, family guide and more to make the experience even better.

This is a great site and experience for any science student. It is definitely appropriate for grades 9-12 and I think 7-8 could do very well too.

NCIS - another great show to get students interested in science

My wife and I just started watching NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service on CBS. The show follows the exploits of a team of investigators from NCIS (a real agency). The characters include 3 field agents, a field agent/computer expert, a medical examiner and a forensic scientist. The story lines include quite a bit of accurate science both in forensics, anatomy and physiology, and computer science. It airs on Tuesdays at 8 on CBS (and all the past seasons are available on DVD). Many of the episodes are also available on their website.

The forensic scientist character, Abby, is a funny, sweet, super smart, goth woman who uses some great science and technology to help solve the crimes.

Forensic science and shows like this are great ways to get students interested and excited in science.

There is some violence, suggestive dialogue and views of the autopsies (fake, of course) so parental and teacher review is needed. Showing clips in school and then getting students interested in the show might be a good way to go about it.

Other Forensic Science Resources:

Science-Class (has a whole section on Forensics)

The TV Show Bones (about an FBI agent and forensic scientist team)

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures

PhET - online science simulations - can be used to do forensics too.





Disclaimer: I was NOT paid for this article.

Forensic Science Resource - CSI: The Experience Web Adventures

Forensics is a widely popular topic and more and more schools are either integrating forensics topics into other science classes, or have created standalone forensics classes.

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures is a great web site that teaches students about forensics and then gives them virtual cases to work on and apply their knowledge. It is supported by the National Science Foundation and partners Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, American Federation of Forensic Sciences, CBS, and Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning. Some pretty big names!

There are three different cases for students to solve ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Each case has the student learning new topics and concepts in order to solve the case. The cases are very well written and designed and I had fun trying them out.

The site also has a reference section for help with the cases, topics and characters and the "fun stuff" section has an educators guide with lessons and activities, family guide and more to make the experience even better. 

This is a great site and experience for any science student. It is definitely appropriate for grades 9-12 and I think 7-8 could do very well too.

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures is a great web site that teaches students about forensics and then gives them virtual cases to work on and apply their knowledge. It is supported by the National Science Foundation and partners Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, American Federation of Forensic Sciences, CBS, and Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning. Some pretty big names!

There are three different cases for students to solve ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced. Each case has the student learning new topics and concepts in order to solve the case. The cases are very well written and designed and I had fun trying them out.

The site also has a reference section for help with the cases, topics and characters and the "fun stuff" section has an educators guide with lessons and activities, family guide and more to make the experience even better.

This is a great site and experience for any science student. It is definitely appropriate for grades 9-12 and I think 7-8 could do very well too.